In these examples, a list-type or dictionary-type flag is given, along with a
shell comment explaining how it is parsed. The parsed flags are shown here using
Python-style list or dict formats (in other languages, what Python calls
"dicts" are often called "associative arrays," "maps," or "hashes").

Basic example:

--list-flag=^:^a,b:c,d # => [a,b, c,d]

Multi-character delimiters are allowed:

--list-flag=^--^a-,b--c # => [a-,b, c]

Just one ^ has no special meaning:

--list-flag=^a,b,c # => [^a, b, c]

This is an alternative way of starting with ^:

--list-flag=^,^^a,b,c # => [^a, b, c]

A ^ anywhere but the start has no special meaning:

--list-flag=a^:^,b,c # => [a^:^, b, c]

Dictionary-type arguments work exactly the same as list-type arguments: